Abstract

A new in-flight hammer has been especially designed at the Gustave Eiffel University to drive in centrifuge at 100×g a model monopile for offshore wind turbine. The model pile driving device uses an electro-mechanical lift system to drive open ended aluminium piles into saturated dense sand. A recap of centrifuge pile drivers is presented as well as the development of a powerful pile driving hammer and the driving curve of a 5 m diameter prototype pile.